


Of Dyes and Dragons

by mistrali



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23586958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistrali/pseuds/mistrali
Summary: Judging from the way Chime behaves in WotE (always getting into roe and whatever else), it sounds like she needs stimulation. A busy house with four mages who work full-time is probably not a great place for her to be, long-term. She really belongs somewhere like the Air temple. Or wherever the glassmakers are (Fire?).Dunno what would work on a magical glass-and-lightning dragon, apart from treats. Glass chew toys?Written for an Inktober prompt: three guesses which one.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

Sandry put her head in her hands and groaned. “Chime! Mila bless it, I can’t leave you alone for five minutes!” she cried. The dragon had abandoned her glass scratching post and got into Sandry’s dyes, if her stained muzzle and cobalt stomach were any indication. Now she was curled up in a tangle of blankets on Tris’s bed, flapping and emitting shrill screeches.

 _Daja! s_ he called. _You were supposed to be looking after her!_

 _She flew away when a customer came in!_ cried Daja. _What was I meant to do, chase her up to the roof?_

Sighing, Sandry went to fish her out, hoping she wouldn’t get bitten or shocked for her trouble.

The dragon gave a high, wavering trill, but let Sandry ease the sheets off her and smooth them into order.

“I’m sorry - I know it’s no picnic being cooped up for three days,” she said, as soothingly as she could, cradling the unhappy dragon in both hands. Chime’s tail lashed like a cat’s against Sandry’s chest; Sandry winced and adjusted her grip.

“I’m not a weather witch, Chime - I can’t control the storms like Tris does. I’ll take you to Winding Circle this afternoon, if the weather settles.”

Chime launched herself from Sandry’s hands - not towards the open window but towards Tris’s shelf. She perched there, keening, then flew over to the case which held her summer clothes.

“I miss Tris too,” Sandry told her softly. “Even if she does owe me a silver astrel’s worth of dye and a new lock.”


	2. Chapter 2

Daja peered around the corner and raised an eyebrow. Chime was sprawled - quietly! - on a rug in Sandry’s workroom, forelegs extended, tail wrapped neatly around her hind legs.

The dragon had stretched her delicate neck up to a glass ball which glowed a different colour each time she breathed on it. There were chimes, tubes with different levels of water inside, a glass maze, an hourglass and a structure which rippled like water. Chime seemed taken with a metal-and-glass bird which flapped its wings jerkily whenever she trilled. The rug was littered with the little glass flames that Chime always shed.

“Oti log it,” Daja breathed, impressed. “Glass toys. Saati, that’s expensive.”

“I know,” admitted Sandry. “But I think she was bored - remember how Bear used to eat our shoes? You wouldn’t believe the trouble I had trying to make the toymakers understand I actually wanted glass, not wood.”

Daja laughed softly. “I suppose you insisted.” That was Sandry from head to foot.

“I may have,” said Sandry, a little ruefully. “But it’s worth it not to chase after her all the time.” She gestured to two baskets of carded wool and a half-woven garment. “That’s all the work I got done today. Normally I’d be on dragon-sitting duty.”


End file.
